By Anjum Peerbacos, education reporter

The government has announced it will cut GCSE exam time by up to three hours per student, in the biggest school shake-up in England in a decade.

The final report from a curriculum and assessment review - commissioned by Labour last year, and the biggest of its kind for a decade - recommends cutting the overall volume of exams at Key Stage 4 by 10%, ruling the current amount as "excessive".

It also calls for the introduction of new maths and English tests in Year 8 to help teachers identify learning gaps sooner, the addition of mandatory citizenship lessons in primary schools, and a major overhaul of the Key Stage 2 grammar, punctuation, and spelling test.

AI among new subjects

The reforms to the national curriculum will also include a focus on AI and data science for post-16 students.

For the first time, primary-aged children will be taught how to spot fake news and identify misinformation and disinformation. This will help them develop their critical thinking skills and protect them when online.

Primary pupils will also learn more about the fundamentals of money. The review recognises that children are now consumers often before they reach secondary school.

A new compulsory reading test in Year 8 will be introduced. This will be in addition to a writing assessment in Year 6, as well as SATs, to identify pupils who need extra support.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the changes "will help young people step boldly into the future, with the knowledge to achieve and the skills to thrive as the world around us continues to rapidly evolve".

This morning, the education secretary has unveiled the new national curriculum for schoolchildren in England - which will now include AI lessons.

That led us to wonder whether AI can predict how a politician will answer.

We put it to the test to see whether Chat GPT could predict what Bridget Phillipson would say about her defeat in the Labour deputy leadership race to Lucy Powell.

Watch the clip below to see the results.

Zack Polanski would travel by aircraft to the annual COP30 event if invited despite a personal ban on flying as this "would be a different circumstance".

The leader of the Greens is asked about his personal choices to not fly or drive, and whether this would prevent him from travelling if he was prime minister one day. 

But Polanski says he makes those choices because "I have the power and the privilege to make those choices".

"It's not about individual responsibility," he adds. "This is about government and big business making that system change rather than pointing it in."

He also insists his decisions, including embracing veganism, are not about being "holier than thou".

The leader of the Greens has said a deadly storm that left at least 28 people dead should have been called "Hurricane Labour".

Zack Polanski is now asked about whether he is hopeful about change happening at COP30 in Brazil this week.

He responds that he doesn't "have any high hopes at all".

He says there have been a growing number of warnings about climate change in recent weeks, but that these have "barely made a headline" as "we've all been paralysed into this kind of fearmongering [that] there's nothing we can do about it".

Polanski continues: "We hold agency and power. And when I say we, I'm talking about the country and the government. 

"If we make sure that the polluter pays, we need to hold fossil fuel companies accountable. 

"It is outrageous that we've just had a hurricane in Jamaica that has killed people and caused mass devastation. 

"Why are we calling it Hurricane Melissa? It should be called Hurricane Shell or at this point it should be called Hurricane Labour, because, actually, we still have a Labour government who are giving fossil fuel subsidies to oil and gas rather than subsidising things like they should be, like train travel."

Challenged that politicising a deadly natural event is "incendiary", he responds by pointing out that Labour is considering giving permission for the Rosebank oil field, which is the UK's largest undeveloped oil field.

He continues: "This is a new oil field where the cumulative carbon emission impact will be the same as 28 of the poorest low income countries in the world. 

"This is sociopathic behaviour if they don't rule it out. 

"So I accept that what I'm saying is strong language, but we need to have stronger language about the climate crisis that is killing people."

But he admits that Labour are not "fully responsible" and points the finger at fossil fuel companies. 

Zack Polanski has said his previous target of scaling up the Greens to 30–40 MPs is "starting to look unambitious".

The Green Party leader says attempting to be prime minister at the next general election is "not for me right now".

But Polanski says that given the party's soaring membership - they now have more members than the Lib Dems and the Conservatives - "things are changing rapidly for me and the Green Party".

He tells Paste BN: "Now, 30 to 40 MPs is starting to look unambitious. 

"I can't give you an exact number yet because we've got to go away, work the numbers and go, 'actually, if we keep growing at this pretty much exponential rate, what are our ambitions at the next general election?' 

"But right now, that isn't being prime minister. It's just making sure we get as big a block of green MPs as possible."

Greens won't work with Starmer or Farage

Pushed on what the Green Party might look like following the next general election, he adds that "we definitely want to hold the balance of power".

He says: "What I want for this country is to make sure that we are taxing wealth more than we're taxing work. 

"I want to make sure we have action on the climate crisis, and I want to bring in proportional representation."

But he rules out going into a coalition with Sir Keir Starmer.

Polanski says: "This is a man who has perpetrated an ongoing genocide in Gaza. He ran on the coattails of Jeremy Corbyn, and I would say he ditched every single pledge he could. So I think the man's proven to be untrustworthy."

He also adds there's "no way I'd do a deal with Nigel Farage".

He's then challenged on who would have to lead the Labour Party for him to work with them.

Polanski responds: "I think Labour membership and people who are thinking about voting Labour in the past are increasingly voting with their feet and moving over to the Green Party anyway."

Sir Sadiq Khan has said people in New York City have chosen "hope" over "fear" in electing Democrat politician Zohran Mamdani. 

The Mayor of London has compared the vote to his own election in London.

Mamdani, 34, defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa to become the city's first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage, and also the youngest in more than a century.

Calling it a "historic campaign", Khan said: "New Yorkers faced a clear choice - between hope and fear - and just like we've seen in London - hope won."

Asked for her reaction to the victory a little earlier, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson congratulated Mamdani on his win.

"It's obviously up to people in New York to decide who they want to represent them," she told Paste BN. "But, I wish him well. 

"It's a wonderful job to have secured."

She added that she doesn't "follow American politics especially closely", but said Mamdani must have clearly fought "a good campaign".

Other UK politicians have also reacted to the win, including Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader, who we'll hear from on Paste BN very shortly.

He said: "Zohran's campaign was his determination to make New York a city everyone can afford to live in. Huge congratulations! 

"His success will resonate throughout the world. A story where no one is left behind. It's time to write that story across England & Wales too."

Today's episode of Politics at Sam and Anne's has just dropped and is available to be streamed now.

PM Keir Starmer flies to the Brazilian rainforest for the COP30 climate conference - a trip he almost biffed - but is it the surge in polling support for the Green Party that may have changed his mind?

He'll join Prince William and the King out in the Amazon – at the same time as considering rolling back on some of the government's climate commitments. 

Back home, Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces criticism over her warnings for the next budget, while she brings in experts to school Labour MPs on how budgets, debts, and deficits actually work.  

And there's a mini recess for Westminster, so Sam and Anne have an extra few days off. They return on Monday. 

You can listen to the episode below or wherever you get your podcasts.

Bridget Phillipson says she has not "caught up" with Lucy Powell since she lost the Labour deputy leadership race to her. 

Powell was elected to the role, replacing Angela Rayner, last month - and was widely seen as the 'anti-Starmer' candidate. 

Speaking about her defeat and the race, the education secretary tells Paste BN: "I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed every minute."

But she adds that she was "disappointed not to win". 

"You don't stand in the contest unless you want to win it. But I do want to congratulate Lucy. I know she'll do a great job," she says.

Asked if she has met Powell for a glass of wine since the defeat, Phillipson responds: "I haven't, no.

"I've seen her at a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting, but I haven't caught up with her. 

"But the thing I took away from it, from all of that contest and the conversations I had, was that we do have a chance as a government to really tell a good story about what we're delivering."

The education secretary says the government is overhauling the national curriculum to "prepare our young people for the future".

Bridget Phillipson has unveiled the Curriculum and Assessment review this morning. 

She tells Paste BN: "It's been more than ten years since the national curriculum was updated. In that time, an awful lot has changed. 

"You mentioned the way that technology is changing the world, shaping lives. And it's essential that we prepare our young people for that future, a future that I want them to shape. 

"I think for me, that's about a really strong academic foundation. So reading, writing, and also a push on science.

"But alongside that, I think what parents want is that children have a breadth and richness in terms of what they can study. 

"So the importance of creative and vocational subjects alongside that, and also our young people being really discerning citizens, people who can question and challenge what's in front of them and be well prepared for what comes next."

She also says that she wants more young people to take all three sciences at GCSE and for more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to be able to have the opportunity to d so as well.

But she adds that the government doesn't want to "rush" the implementation of the new curriculum.

She explains: "We want to get it right. So the programs of study will be out for consultation by 2027. And the national curriculum will be taught by 2030."

Bridget Phillipson has said the Greens are "the first to oppose" renewable energy schemes in practice.

The education secretary has hit out at the party for it's record on a local level.

She tells Paste BN this "is kind of talking green, but actually, when it comes to comes down to it, not actually being prepared to do what's necessary".

Asked if Labour should take the threat of the Greens more seriously, she warned that populist parties on both the left and the right offer "easy answers that sound quite appealing but are ultimately not especially compelling".

She adds: "The Greens will always say how important it is that we tackle climate change and invest in the future. But actually, when it comes to decisions here at home, they'll be the first to oppose solar power, nuclear, wind farms, and building a train line. 

"It's one thing to kind of have a big argument. It's another thing to actually make the decisions, and put in place the policies that will actually deliver what it is you claim to want to do."